Four police officers beat up Babar Ahmad, a man suspected of helping al-Qaeda, telling him: ‘You’ll remember this day for the rest of your life,’ a court has heard.

Babar Ahmad after his arrest in 2003 on suspicion of terrorism offences

Babar Ahmad, 37, was knocked against a glass window as the officers attacked him during the early morning raid at his south-west London home, it was claimed.

Once on the ground, he sustained repeated beatings, with injuries inflicted all over his body, Southwark crown court was told.

The alleged attack happened as police raided four suspects’ homes

Mr Ahmad, who was suspected of being a terror group leader who had trained and fought jihad – holy war – abroad, was beaten up in his home in Tooting by the four Territorial Support Group (TSG) officers, said Jonathan Laidlaw QC for the prosecution.

Three officers continued the assault in a police van and at Charing Cross police station, he added.

The alleged attack happened at 5am on December 2, 2003, as the Met launched Operation Quarrier, raiding four Muslim suspects’ homes. It came 11 months after Det Con Stephen Oake was murdered in Crumpsall, Manchester, by terror suspect Kamel Bourgass.

Police chiefs briefed officers that Mr Ahmad was to be considered as dangerous as Bourgass and feared he would resist.

However, he was dressed in his pyjamas and barefooted and offered no threat to the police, said Mr Laidlaw. ‘Mr Ahmad raised his arms above his head to indicate that he was not going to fight,’ he added.

When the victim arrived ‘battered and bruised’ at the station, the defendants said he had been violent in his resistance.